Five MHS Students Compete at DECA International Conference

Five Medfield High School Students Compete at DECA International Conference

Superintendent Jeffrey Marsden is pleased to share that five Medfield High School students recently traveled to Orlando to compete in DECA's International Career Development Conference (ICDC).

From April 22-26, high school students from every U.S. state, plus other countries, converged to sit for business-focused exams and compete in their chosen field of interest.

The Medfield students who competed were:

• Zina Avagyan and Tamlyn Shu, juniors, competing in Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making
• Kathryn Buckley, junior, competing in Hotel Lodging Management
• Andre Leger and Kenny Manning, seniors, competing in Financial Team Decision Making

Buckley competed at the finalist level for her event and received two medals.

Additionally, senior Ava Blake qualified for ICDC in the Business Finance category, but was unable to attend the conference.

"Our DECA students demonstrate exceptional skills, creativity and dedication in their respective categories. We are very proud of their commitment to excellence and their ability to think
outside the box,” said Medfield DECA Adviser Karen Shaffer. "We would also like to thank our Medfield teachers and professors who judged events, including Bonnie Wren-Burgess, Paula Hamilton, Dr. Kenneth Manning, Stephanie Pollard, Bridget Ryan and Joanna Zehme.”

During the school year, thousands of DECA’s 224,000 high school student members take part in the organization’s competitive events program, allowing them to compete for local, regional and association titles. Almost 60 competitive event options are available to students, allowing
them to compete within the area of management, marketing, finance or entrepreneurship they are most interested in.

Students compete in various scenario-based events, create and present written projects, and develop a broad range of campaigns. The competitions are designed to simulate real-life business scenarios and test students’ academic understanding and skills development.

Competitions begin at the District level where students compete against about 1,000 students from 17 other high schools in the area. Top competitors advance to the State level where there are
approximately 4,000 competitors. The top state association winners then put their talents to the test during the program’s final round of competition. ICDC was the pinnacle of competition where over 22,000 students vied for international honors.

In addition to career-based competitions, DECA members engaged in leadership academies and networking opportunities with over 80 internationally recognized businesses and universities while at ICDC.

This is Medfield High School's fourth year competing with DECA.

"Congratulations to our five DECA International competitors, as well as all of our DECA students on their competitive and leadership achievements this year," Superintendent Marsden said. "We look forward to seeing the great things these young professionals will accomplish in the future."

About DECA Inc.
DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and
entrepreneurs who are interested in careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. DECA enhances the preparation for college and careers by providing co-curricular programs that integrate into classroom instruction, apply learning, connect to business and promote
competition. DECA student members leverage their experience to become academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders. DECA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with over 240,000 members in 3,600 high school and college chapters in nearly all 50
United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and Germany.

For more information about DECA, visit deca.org.